“Or both and the fact that you’re exhausted.” His eyes fixed on hers. “How long since you’ve slept for more than a few hours?”

She shook her head, unable to remember. “I don’t know. A long time. Days, I guess.”

“You’ll sleep tonight, I promise you. Come on. Let’s start walking. We have to get out of this forest in order to see where we are.”

They set out through the maze of moss-and-lichen-covered trees, through the skeletal remains of the dead hardwoods, the remnants of the old world and reminders of what had been lost. Once, this forest must have been beautiful, so many huge old giants clustered together, their interlocking boughs covered with leaves, sunlight filtering to the earthen floor. There would have been clusters of wildflowers and ferns and flashes of small animals and birds. That was all gone now, the forest dead and deserted of life, a graveyard every bit as empty and bereft as the one they had just escaped.

“This is taking too long,” Phryne declared not long after, drawing up short. She was recovered by then from her breakdown and better able to think about what was needed. “I should try using the Elfstones again.”

Pan stopped and faced her. He looked unconvinced. “I don’t know,” he said carefully. “Using their magic might call attention to our presence. We don’t know what might be attracted.”

“But how much more trouble are we likely to get into if we just wander around in here? We could be going in the exact wrong direction.”

“I don’t know,” he repeated.

She took his hand and squeezed it. “Please, Pan. Let me try. I know I can do this. I’ll be careful.”

He squeezed her hand back, persuaded. “All right. Do it.”

Once more, she produced the Elfstones, dumping them out of their pouch and into her open palm. This time, she formed a steady image of Arborlon, dismissing all other choices as she closed her eyes. The familiar warmth rose from the Stones into her fist and arm and from there into her entire body. She felt the magic strengthen as it surged through her, and her eyes snapped open.

Blue light lanced from her closed fingers in a different direction from the one they had been taking, angling off to their left and cutting through the trees until it found open country, blasted and barren, where clusters of rocks and dead trees dominated ravines that crisscrossed to foothills that bordered mountains she recognized immediately.

The flow of the magic dissipated, and the blue light died away. “Did you see?” she asked him excitedly. “Did you see those mountains? Aphalion Pass cuts right through them into the valley. Arborlon is just beyond!”

“I saw,” he answered. “Now we know. Everything is all right. We know where to go. Thanks to you, we know.”